New hydel projects to be set up in Palakkad.

The district panchayat here which had made history by being the first local body in the country to own a mini-hydel project at Meenvallom in Karimba panchayat in June 2014 is set to make another record by taking up three new mini and one micro-hydel project.

It has started the preliminary works at Chindillam waterfalls in Palakuzhay near Kizhakkancherry grama panchayat to generate 1 MW power.

An amount of Rs 4 crore was allotted in the annual plan of the district panchayat to generate 3.78 million units annually, said project coordinator and chief engineer E Padmanabhan.

He said that the district panchayat is trying to buy 7 acres of private land through the negotiable purchase committee headed by district collector and also to get 0.3 hectares of forest land for the project.

The project report of Palakuzhy mini-hydel project was prepared by Kerala state electricity board in 1992 and the district panchayat got it updated. He said that the district panchayat has also taken up the Koodam mini-hydel project at Agali Grama panchayat in Attappadi to generate 4.5 MW power.

At Chempukatti in Kottopadam panchayat in Mannarkkad, the mini-hydel project is planned to generate 6.5 MW power, Padmanabhan said.

He said that encouraged by the good results of Meenvallom mini-hydel project, the first such project of a district panchayat in the country, an expansion plan of it is also being planned.

A micro-hydro electricity project is being taken up to utilize the tailrace water to generate 8.4 million units of power.

The Energy Management Centre, a government agency in Thiruvanathapuram, was asked to submit a report on the micro-hydro project, the project coordinator said.

He said that the Meenvallom project is a model to other local bodies in the country that can take up numerous mini-hydel projects to overcome power shortage.

Kerala government had launched a scheme to construct 62 small hydel projects to generate 262 MW power in 2013.



When the district panchayat entered into a power purchase agreement with the KSEB, the rate for a single unit was Rs 2.50 but now, it has been raised by the government to Rs.4.88. Thus the entire power generated in Meenvallom since June this year will get the revised rate.

The project has generated 5.1 million units so far which is a record considering the summer months when water is scarce to generate power, Mr Padmanabhan said.

TOI